Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 6 (of 8): The United States of North America, Part I
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 6 (of 8): The United States of North America, Part I
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
[Illustration: NOTE.—This sketch of Bunker Hill Battle, made for Lord
Rawdon, follows a tracing of the original belonging to Dr. Emmet of
New York, furnished to me by Mr. Benson J. Lossing. A finished drawing
from this sketch is given in the _Mem. Hist. of Boston_, vol. iii. Cf.
_Harper's Mag._ xlvii., p. 18. The spire in the foreground is that of
the West Church, which stood where Dr. Bartol's church, in Cambridge
Street, Boston, now stands, showing that the sketcher was on Beacon
hill, 138 feet above the water. The smoke from the frigate to the right
of the spire rises against the higher hill where Putnam endeavored
to rally the retreating provincials. This hill is 110 feet above the
water, and about one mile and a half distant from the spectator. One
hundred and thirty rods to the right of this summit is the crown of the
lower or Breed's Hill, where the redoubt was, which is 62 feet above
the sea. Dr. Emmet secured this picture and another of the slope of
the hill, taken after the battle, and showing the broken fences (_Mem.
Hist. of Boston_, iii. 88), at the sale of the effects of the Marquis
of Hastings, who was a descendant of Lord Rawdon, then on Gage's staff
(_Harper's Monthly Mag._, 1875). The earliest engraved picture of the
battle is one cut by Roman, which was published the same year, and
appeared also in Sept., 1775, on a reduced scale, in the _Pennsylvania
Magazine_. It has been reproduced in Frothingham's _Centennial: Battle
of Bunker Hill_ (1875), in Moore's _Ballad History_, and in other of
the Centennial memorials. In 1781 a poem by George Cockings, _The
American War_ (London), had a somewhat extraordinary picture, which
has been reproduced in Gay's _Pop. Hist. U. S._, iii. 401, by S. A.
Drake, and others. In 1786 Col. John Trumbull painted his well-known
picture of the battle, which has been often engraved. (Cf. Trumbull's
_Autobiography_; _N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg._, xv.; Tuckerman's _Book
of the Artists_; _Harper's Magazine_, Nov., 1879.) Trumbull claimed
that the following figures in his picture were portraits: Warren,
Putnam, Howe, Clinton, Small, and the two Pitcairns.
In the _Mass. Magazine_, Sept., 1789, there is a view of Charlestown,
showing Bunker's and Breed's hills, with their original contours. It
is reproduced in _Mem. Hist. Boston_, iii. 554, with a note upon other
early views. Frothingham (_Siege_, p. 121) gives one from an early
manuscript which closely resembles the topography of the Rawdon sketch;
and again (_Centennial_, etc.) another which is in fact the perspective
sketch of the town at the edge of Price's view of Boston (1743),
converted into a panoramic picture (_Mem. Hist. of Boston_, ii. 329).
The _Gentleman's Mag._, Feb., 1790, has a view of Charlestown, with the
tents of the British army on the hill, taken after the battle, and from
Copp's Hill. It shows the wharves and ruins of the town. (Cf. note in
_Mem. Hist. Boston_, iii. 88.)]
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